In order to be open to navigation before April next year, more than 20 construction sites along the entire Hongshui River were started almost at the same time. One can imagine the strong organizational skills required behind this. If it were not for the strong government capabilities of the Song Dynasty civil servants, Chen Ke and Shen Kuo's plan would not have been completed.
No matter how careful you are, you won't dare to spread the stall so big.
The upstream project, also called the Nanpanjiang Project, mainly involves the construction of forty-seven steep gates in the distance from Dongchuan to Sanjiangkou. It has detailed drawings drawn by Shen Kuo and the newly invented cement concrete. The project is difficult.
It is much smaller than when the craftsmen of the Qin Dynasty built the Ling Canal.
They first built a dam upstream to block water, exposing the bottom of the river. Then they compacted hundreds of cement pillars in a criss-cross pattern, inserted them at the bottom of the dam, and then poured concrete into the whole. This was used to build a sea wall.
The engineering method here is a bit overkill, but it is a hundred times stronger than the traditional method of standing timber, and it is not afraid of being damaged, so Chen Ke still took the risk of being imitated by the craftsmen and adopted new technology.
Of course, it is also possible that he wanted them to learn it intentionally.
The Hongshui River project in the middle and lower reaches is not so simple. The Hongshui River Basin is the transitional section from the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to the Guangxi Plain. The water surface has a large drop, dense shoals, or huge rocks standing in the water, or stone walls blocking the water.
Thousands of twists and turns... The boat is in the middle of the river and cannot see directly for three miles from the front to the back. There are situations such as water falling, spraying, spinning, and rewinding. The construction difficulty is not comparable to that of river engineering in the mainland.
Among them, the eight most dangerous beaches are either huge boulders that stretch across the two banks, or piles of rocks that block the center of the river. Most of the beaches have waves that are several miles long, with heights of up to ten feet. In the past, when ships passed these beaches, they would have to use dry water.
Boxes, or platform poles, and more often bamboo and rattan are used to tie the boat over and pull it over. In short, it is impossible to cross alone.
By the Hongshui River, there used to be a tribe that made a living by pulling fibers. Of course, they were inevitably asking for exorbitant prices, but they still suffered damage from time to time, and larger boats would not be able to pass.
Although he had no doubts about Shen Kuo and Su Song's ability, Chen Ke still ordered the trainees not to copy blindly, but to make careful plans based on actual difficulties day and night, or adopt established methods, or consult widely to discuss the merits and causes.
They were asked to take different measures for different situations. For example, on the most dangerous shoals, where the middle of the shoal was so turbulent that it was impossible to sail, they would build dams at the places where boxes and pull rods had traditionally been set up to draw in water, and the cliffs would be burned and chiseled.
Take a new boat route to avoid the danger of mid-stream.
As for the sub-risk beaches, it is also necessary to build dams to force the water to flow, and to cut away the huge rocks on the water surface and bottom that hinder the boat, so that the boat will not hit the rocks. At the same time, scaffolding is also set up on the cliffs on both sides of the bank, and high and low guide paths are cut out to make the boat run on the rocks.
The boat can be pulled up and down by trackers... The so-called lead path is the path that the trackers take when pulling the fiber. When there are cliffs on both sides of the bank and it is necessary to pull the fiber, the lead path can only be carved on the stone wall.
Just describing it makes people sweat, and the craftsmen who went to dig it themselves were just in awe... If they hadn't discovered that the river bed and the rocks on both sides were limestone with low hardness, how much money would Chen Ke give them?
Don't do it either.
Fortunately, the project was started in full swing. No matter how thorough the preparations were, problems still came one after another. As the commander-in-chief, Chen Ke and Shen Kuo were either at the river construction site or on the way to the construction site to solve the problems.
Various technical issues and coordination of various complex relationships.
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Fortunately, God has blessed us. Maybe it rained too much last year, and this year there was a severe drought. The river was extremely dry, and the water level was five or six feet lower than in previous years. Under the action of steep gates, the middle and lower reaches were basically dried up in early spring, and all the dangerous shoals were
Both the beach and rocks above and below the water are exposed, which is very conducive to construction.
On the construction site, the construction officials ordered the craftsmen to cut fuel and transport coal, and use fire to burn the huge beach rocks. Because the limestone will decompose and transform into quicklime when exposed to high temperatures, which will become loose and crisp. As soon as the fire is extinguished, it will be hammered and chipped immediately.
If hit, they will disintegrate one after another. Moreover, quicklime is a very consumed material, so it can be said that it kills two birds with one stone.
There are also methods that do not use fire. Craftsmen use iron drills to cut small holes in the boulders, drive wooden wedges into them, and pour water on them. The force of the expansion of the wooden wedges when soaked in water can crack the stones. The large pieces of limestone obtained in this way are
All are sent directly to be calcined with clay, and cement is prepared on site.
The boat paths they opened were all wide and deep from the beach near the water, leaving no grooves, so that the upper and lower boats could walk along the side to avoid the danger of floods in the middle of the river. At the same time, they also dug holes in the cliffs along the banks.
The lead path is more than 20,000 feet long. In all the steep and dangerous places, the craftsmen tied hemp ropes around their waists, dug with a shovel in the air, and hammered out stone cracks inch by inch. Then they inserted iron drill frames and poured cement to create them out of thin air.
Lead the way...
There are also more difficult situations, among which the management of Shuangyan Beach and Bad Beach is the most representative.
Shuangyantan is known as the key to the red water. There are two mountains protruding from the river, like double gates. The water pours out of it, falling several feet. The waves sweep the north bank, and the spurts are more than ten feet high. The currents are swirling, and there are many dangers! At first, we planned to go there.
A stone trough was dug on the north bank and the boat was pulled up. However, during the actual operation, it was discovered that the trough was swept away by the falling waves and the cliffs were protruding, making it impossible to launch the boat.
As a last resort, we re-discussed the design and planned to dig a waterway fifty-three feet long, two feet deep, and four to five feet wide on the south bank. From then on, boats could pass up and down in parallel. But in this way, even if the limestone is easier to drill,
, the amount of the project is also too large, and naturally many people are opposed to it.
In the end, Chen Ke overcame all objections and ordered people to dig two fifty-foot-long tunnels one foot underground. Then they filled them with gunpowder, sealed them with concrete, and then detonated them.
After the earth-shaking rumble, it was a real earthquake! Countless rocks, sand, and branches were sprayed into the sky, causing the sky to change color, and then it rained earth and rocks.
Although everyone retreated a mile away, a large area was still overturned. When they calmed down and went back to check, they found that a tunnel several feet wide and forty to fifty feet long had been blasted there...
…
There is another place called Bad Beach, which is the most dangerous beach in the middle reaches. The beach is five miles long and is full of dangerous waves such as sweeping cliffs, twisting circles, and spurting waves. The danger is indescribable. Thanks to Shen Kuo for creating
The method of 'building a round dam' is to chisel out the big rocks in the water by their roots, and pull the boats up from the north bank; and use the round dam method to chisel away the boulders tens of feet from the south bank, and open a river to make it possible to move up and down the river.
Boat traffic...
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Chen Ke stood on a huge stone by the river and looked at the lively scene of thousands of people working hard up and down the river. He saw countless stonemasons chiseling stones, and countless porters carrying loads of stones to the river bank.
Transport. On the cliffs on the shore, there are high scaffoldings, with rows of craftsmen tied with hemp ropes and knocking on the wall. The sound of jingling stones and the trumpets of people working can be heard.
, there are rumbling explosions from time to time...
This heated scene deeply affected Chen Ke. He took a long breath and said: "A few months ago, there were huge waves and inaccessible people here. Who would have thought that it would become like this in just a few months?"
What an exciting picture!”
Isn't Liu Yue'e deeply touched? She seems to have understood Chen Ke's motive... In fact, he really doesn't care about what he can get. What he is more intoxicated with is the pleasure of making the world change because of him.
.
To put it bluntly, this is a narcissist who needs to show off at all times...
'However, he is indeed qualified to be narcissistic.' Liu Yue'e thought to herself: 'I don't know if there is anyone as whimsical as him in this world, but at the same time down-to-earth...'
When she heard others commenting on the miraculous Hongshui River project, they all lamented Chen Ke's generosity and lavish spending. She believed that the reason why civilians maintained high morale was due to money. But Liu Yue'e knew best.
Spending money cannot buy everyone’s full efforts!
She saw with her own eyes that wherever he went, after handling official duties, as long as he had time, Chen Ke would go to the construction site and work with the peasants. He would also do the most tiring tasks of moving rocks and carrying burdens, with one person carrying the weight of two people.
In the middle reaches of the Hongshui River, the mountains are high and the clouds are thick, and it is rainy even in winter. Often when a gust of wind passes, dense raindrops begin to fall, immediately soaking the clothes of everyone on the construction site.
But because they had long been accustomed to the intermittent winter rains, the workers still worked in the rain and had no intention of stopping. The officials were afraid that Chen Ke would get wet, so they asked him to go up and take shelter from the rain: "Sir, the ground is slippery when it rains, in case someone
Anyway, we can't afford it..."
"Don't worry too much, my physique is better than them all." Chen Ke's figure is absolutely outstanding. The officials tried to persuade him again, but he interrupted: "If you want me to rest early, just step aside!"
Not only the officials but also the common people did not understand his stubbornness. They did not dare to ask at first, but seeing that he was approachable, they boldly started talking to him.
Chen Ke said with a smile: "There is no way. I am so confident that it will be completed in one year. How can I do it if I don't work hard? I have to do it first if you ask me to do it!" Let him say this, the people on the construction site will do it first.
My nervousness increased a lot. When it was time to eat, I found that I had done half as much work as yesterday...
However, when Liu Yue'e asked Chen Ke privately, he replied: "Only half of what I do is for the common people, who have the least resistance to this kind of tune. The other half is for the officials..."
Prime Minister Hedao is so anxious that he went to dig out rocks himself. Who among them dares to slack off for me?'
"I knew your motives were impure, and you were too treacherous." Liu Yue'e said with contempt at him with a smile.
"Being an official means putting on a show. The higher the official position, the more serious the show." Chen Ke said with a wry smile.
"A show?" Liu Yue'e was already used to the strange words that came out of Chen Ke's mouth. She pretended to be joking and said: "So, you are also putting on a show when you talk to me?"
"Why are you talking about this?" Chen Ke really couldn't understand the leaps and bounds of a woman's thinking, so he had to answer: "I never put on a show when it comes to my own life."
"I'm afraid you'll be too caught up in the drama and not be able to tell whether you're acting or not." Liu Yue'e said softly.
"No." Chen Ke shook his head and said without any doubt.
